Paul KrugmanWhat my friend Invictus is talking about is the fact that Tesla buyers are overwhelmingly in Dem districts, which he documented recently 1/ https://twitter.com/TBPInvictus/status/1607852684601704448
Here's his original evidence, with further stuff from the inimitable Charles Gaba 2/ https://ritholtz.com/2022/12/owning-the-libs/
Thoughts On Owning the Libs - The Big Picture
@TBPInvictus here. (Also on Post and Mastodon). Happy holidays to all, and the best for 2023. It’s been a hot minute since my last post, hope I remember how this thing works. I’ve been a huge fan of Twitter for well over a decade. It’s a fire hose of invaluable information from countless reliable…Read More
How I think about it: many people make a statement with the car they drive, maybe more than with any consumer good 3/
A Tesla is an expensive luxury car, but zero-emission, and until the other day Elon Musk seemed like a cool guy who does space travel while hanging out with singers and Westworld actresses 4/
So owning a Tesla was, to be crude but I think accurate, a way to say "I'm rich but I'm woke". Lots to criticize and ridicule there, but it was the marketing strategy 5/
Apparently, however, Musk didn't get his own memo. Instead he's gone full MAGA, turning off exactly the people who might buy his cars. Stupid? Unable to control his impulses? Probably both 6/
Sasha Fox@pkrugman Also his cars suck and keep trying to murder their owners.
Eight-car Thanksgiving pileup blamed on Tesla “Full Self-Driving” software
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/12/eight-car-thanksgiving-pileup-blamed-on-tesla-full-self-driving-software/
A Tesla driver watched in horror as another Tesla burst into flames after hitting a barrier
https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-driver-watched-in-horror-tesla-crashed-burst-into-flames-2022-12
NumbCat9 💜s trans folx 🏳️⚧️Truth: EVs are *much much* safer than gasoline cars when it comes to fires. Beta testing FSD on real streets is dumb, tho where are state legs on that?
Musk is an evil fuck, but claiming EVs set themselves on fire at anywhere even approaching the rate that fossil fueled vehicles do is just Big Oil propaganda.
Don’t let that evil fuck destroy your judgment and perspective.
EVs: *great*
Musk: Terrible
Source: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/study-electric-vehicles-involved-in-fewest-car-fires.
@numbcat9 @pkrugman The problem with Elon's cars is that they keep driving into other cars, barrier, and children.
They aren't more likely to explode just sitting there, but the Tesla driving itself into a highway barrier caused the fire.
So yeah, not electronic vehicles, just a criminally negligent self-driving feature.
Yes. But we have to sharpen our attacks. Big Oil absolutely loves that we cannot seem to do that as a movement.
FSD is amazing, as are the other self-driving techs. But it’s not ready for road use yet. When it is, it’ll be a total gamechanger especially for disabled folks. Total. Also will mostly kill short-haul plane flights, also very good for climate.
Musk doesn’t equal FSD or self-driving tech. He’s an asshole. The idea is solid.
@numbcat9 @pkrugman Yeah, full self driving will be good eventually. What's happened here is that Musk is putting technology that won't be safe for another decade onto the road right now so that he can generate headlines that make him seem at the cutting edge of technology, done with the assumption that regulation is weak enough and that he's wealthy enough to avoid all consequences for the inevitable results of that negligence.